


Tonight (and for the rest of my life)

by mercscilla



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015)
Genre: F/M, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-13
Updated: 2016-02-13
Packaged: 2018-05-20 04:41:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,725
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5992009
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mercscilla/pseuds/mercscilla
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>She can feel it in her bones and she knows it in her heart.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Tonight (and for the rest of my life)

**Author's Note:**

  * For [](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts).



> So, my lovely recipient for the Valentine’s Gift Exchange is _noncriminalmurphy_. All they wanted was Reylo in all its glory and that's the best kind of request a writer could ever ask for.  <3

The festival is in full swing and the joy resonating from the laughing and dancing crowd is giving Rey a little buzz. It's rare to see them all so happy, so lighthearted and carefree, and she can't help but smile back every time random strangers come up to her and give her a peck on the cheek, smiling and wishing her _Allayloo ta nuv_ before doing the same to her friends. Finn blushes every time, still a little bit shy and awkward, but Poe takes it all in stride and returns the gesture with a very enthusiastic grin, clearly enjoying himself.

There's a slight ripple in the Force, a pang of wistfulness that's out of place among all the happiness, and when Rey raises her head, all she sees is his back as he slips back into the shadows. She doesn't even think twice about it, gets up and excuses herself from the table she's sharing with her friends and a few other pilots and rebels, and follows him.

Rey lets the Force guide her, the bond they share leading her through the night and down the path bathed in the dim light of paper lanterns before drawing her off it and into the forest.

There's no reaction from him when she finally finds him, seated with his legs crossed under a tree near the edge of a small pond, his eyes closed, and Rey uses the opportunity to study him. The difference between who he was and who he is now has become more apparent in the months since he has decided to join the Resistance. Kylo Ren is no longer the dark knight she has encountered in the past. He is looking like an older version of the young boy she has met in their shared dreams, and this time, he is willingly to learn to balance the dark side and the light.

It's no easy, she of all people knows that all too well, there are setbacks and missteps along the way, _but he is trying_ , and on a day like this, when there's so much light in everyone, she wishes the others could see how much there is in him. Too many still see him as a brutal and vicious nightmare having come to life, want to see him punished and suffer, and what better punishment is there than cutting him off from all those positive emotions? Dull pain pulls in the hollow of her chest and she squeezes her eyes shut against the sudden rush of resentment she feels for the others.

“Careful there. That path leads straight to the dark side.” 

Her eyes fly open and she stares at him in disbelief. “Did you just... was that a joke?”

Kylo doesn't answer but his mouth quirks at the corner and Rey huffs in amusement before settling down on his left, their legs brushing as she mimics his position.

“I meant it though,” she says and looks out across the pond. “They are fools if they can't see the change in you.”

“Not everyone is gifted to use the Force to see someone's true intentions,” he reminds her, and Rey pulls a face.

“I don't mean it like that. I...” She pauses for a moment, and then shifts to look at him properly. He keeps his eyes close but tilts his head every so slightly and Rey knows he's listening. “I mean literally see it. You spend hours with your mother and the commanders to plan attacks and missions to bring down the First Order. You allowed them to take every bit of knowledge you have from your mind to use it to the Resistance's advantage. You help out wherever you can on base, be it where it's needed most at the moment or be it mundane tasks like sorting through datapads or fixing astromech droids or—”

He gives a quiet sort of laugh, the sound amused and incredulous at the same time, and shakes his head.

“What?” she asks, confused with this odd reaction.

“You say the others don't see but it's you who doesn't see.” Finally, he moves to face her properly and the scar on his cheek, _her_ scar, gleams like stardust in the moonlight. “I do work for my redemption but do you really think I'm trying to redeem myself by sorting through datapads or fixing astromech droids?” He smiles but it doesn't reach his eyes because the look in them is far too intense for that and her breath catches in her throat.

“I don't...” She doesn't understand what he's trying to say, and her thoughts and memories whirl in her mind as she struggles to figure it out. Her eyes flicker away from his heated gaze, only to be drawn back again as if she might find what she's looking for there after all. The answer is close, if only she could...

There's a slight pull at the edge of her mind and then she's sinking into his and it's like she's sliding into water. Images rise from the depth of his consciousness and after a moment she recognizes them as memories. They play out before her like a holovid, all his memories of the past few months, and the longer she watches, the more she begins to _see_. All the times he had done trivial things like the day he had helped sorting through datapads or the few times he had been fixing astromech droids, it had nothing to do with him looking for redemption. There's something else that draws him in, calls to him and has him dealing with misplaced datapads or stubborn droids without complain, it's...

 _Her_.

Their connection fades, and with it the images, but what he felt during those times and is still feeling, feeling _for her_ , stays with her, and Rey sits there motionless as she sorts through it. He'd come to the archive and offered to help filing the datapads because _she_ had been there with Master Luke to study Jedi lore. He'd spent hours repairing droids because _she_ had been there tinkering around in the Falcon. Redemption hadn't been in his mind when he had done all those things.

He had done those things for no other reason than wanting to be near her because his feelings for her run deeper than simple friendship.

Slowly, the surroundings comes back into focus and Rey feels her cheeks growing warm as she finds Kylo staring at her, the same strange heat flickering behind his eyes that she remembers having seen when she'd looked up from studying another Jedi resource or when she'd rolled out from under the Falcon and there he had been, surrounded by datapads or droids parts, _and had been watching her_. Back then she hadn't been able to place it. Now she is, now she knows what to call it.

Affection. Yearning. Desire. _Love_.

Her lips part, but she can't find anything to say, and after a moment, Kylo sighs and drops his gaze, an wave of resignation and shame coming from him, and a chill run across her skin as Rey realizes he's taking her silence as rejection when it is not because...

She reaches for him, her fingers wrapping gently around his wrist, and he starts at the contact. He looks back up at her again but before he can question her, she opens her mind to his and lets her own memories and feelings speak for themselves. For her, there's the young teenage boy she had met at night when she had dreamed of Jakku and whom she had started to see as a friend. The boy had became a real man when he had defected to the Resistance and over the months she had found herself looking forward to spending time with him. It hadn't mattered whether they were talking or just sitting there in companionable silence because it had been _his_ company, the simple presence of him, she had enjoyed.

The Force may have brought them into each other's lives under the guise of being on opposite sides, but they have moved beyond that a long time ago. Just like his feelings for her have changed, so have hers for him, growing into something she has never felt for anyone else.

“Rey,” he says, his voice a low murmur that winds its way down her spine in a slow shiver and she can't look away from Kylo, can't look away from his dark and wide eyes. She hears him exhale softly before he slips his hand out of her grip and runs it up her arm and shoulder to curl his fingers around the back of her neck. When he draws her forward, Rey meets him halfway.

The moment their lips touch, their bond flares up again, stronger than before, and everything else falls away in the rush until there's only him and her, only Kylo's mouth on hers, slow and sure, and the notion coming from him that kissing her is all he ever wanted to do. It's a sensory overload, a constant loop of sensations, and she aches into his burning touch and kiss as he deepens it. When she brushes her fingers over the nape of his neck and slides them into his hair, raw hunger skitters through their bond that makes his mind stutter before going blank and Rey smiles as he moans against her mouth, a strangled drag of her name.

He pulls her closer until she's straddling his lap and his breath ghosts across her skin as he looks up at her. His eyes still hold the same intensity from before but now there's warmth in them too that's echoed by the feelings coming from him. Lightly, Rey rests her fingers on the curve of his cheek and his eyes briefly flutter shut at her touch. When he opens them again, he gives her a small smile before tugging her into an embrace, wrapping his arms tightly around her, and she goes willingly, lays her cheek on his shoulder and relaxes into him.

High above them, the twin moons continue to slowly drift across the night sky and between them, the bond keeps on humming softly, and when she thinks at him, _Allayloo ta nuv_ , he lets out a low rumble of laughter and presses his lips against her hair.

Celebrate the love, indeed.


End file.
